prelude, musical composition of no universal style, usually for the keyboard. It was originally used to precede a ceremony and later a second, often larger piece. Early preludes represent the first example of idiomatic keyboard music. During the baroque period the prelude formed the first movement of suites and fugues. The most widely known preludes, those written for the piano by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy and Aleksandr Scriabin, are independent works with no introductory function.

Musical composition, usually brief, generally played as an introduction to another piece. The prelude originated as short pieces that were improvised by an organist to establish the key of a following piece or to fill brief interludes in a church service. Their improvisatory origins were often reflected in rhythmic freedom and virtuosic runs. A section in this style would often lead to a closing fugal section; in time this turned into a separate movement, and preludes came to be paired with fugues. In the 17th century, preludes began to be frequently written for lute or harpsichord. In later years the term came to be used for short piano pieces, often in sets, by composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Aleksandr Scriabin, and Claude Debussy.

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Metrical hymn tune associated in common English usage with the Lutheran church in Germany. From early in the Reformation, chorales were to be sung by the congregation during the Protestant liturgy. The words of the Lutheran chorales were often Latin plainsong hymn texts translated into the vernacular. The melodies were often borrowed from secular song and therefore displayed great melodic and structural simplicity. In modern times the chorale is considered to be a musical setting, usually polyphonic (multivoiced), of a traditional religious text.

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A Prelude ("before play") is something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows after it. It may also refer to:

• Prelude (music), a musical style
• The Prelude, a poem by William Wordsworth
• Preludes (poem), a poem by T. S. Eliot
• "Prelude" (short story), a short story by New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield
• Honda Prelude, an automobile manufactured by Honda
• Prelude-IDS, open source hybrid IDS framework

Music

• Preludes (Chopin), a set of 24 piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin, written between 1835 and 1839
• Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff), a piano piece by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written in 1892
• Preludes (Debussy), two sets of piano pieces by Claude Debussy, written between 1909 and 1913
• Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, an orchestral piece by Debussy
• Prelude Records (record label), a former New York-based dance independent record label
• Prelude Records, a specialist classical music CD shop in Norwich, England
• Prelude (band), a British rock band
• Marionette -prelude-, a prelude to Ayumi Hamasaki's 2007/2008 song Marionette from her 9th studio album, Guilty
• Prelude is the title of a funk/jazz fusion album by native Brazilian keyboarder Eumir Deodato, released in 1973 and famous for the jazzy/funky arrangement of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra
• "Prelude", a song by Hawkwind from their 1980 album Levitation
• "Prelude (The Family Trip)", a song by the band Marilyn Manson from their 1994 debut album Portrait of an American Family
• "Prelude", a song by Symphony X from their 2000 album V-The New Mythology Suite
• "Prelude", a song by LL Cool J from his 1995 album Mr. Smith
• "Prelude", a song by Camper Van Beethoven from their album New Roman Times
• "Prelude 12/21" is a single off of Decemberunderground from AFI
• "Prelude", a song commonly used in the intro of the Final Fantasy Game series
• "Prelude" a song by the musician Yanni Chrysomallis, a World Music band/orchestra performance piece
• "The Prelude", a song from Kingdom Come, the 2007 album from Jay-Z
• "Prelude 3.0", a song by Slipknot from their 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
• Preludes - Rare and Unreleased Recordings, an album by Warren Zevon
• "Prelude", a guitar solo by Yngwie Malmsteen, from the Album Rising Force
• "Prelude", A Marimba megacomposition by "Safri Duo on 2003[Live also]"